1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a knowledge base system for building and executing a knowledge base and, more particularly, to a knowledge base system in which an operation based on standardized industrial knowledge is realized by a computer system. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a knowledge base system for building a knowledge base by using a computer and, more particularly, business such as a designer builds industrial knowledge as a knowledge base and maintains the knowledge base. The present invention also relates to a knowledge base system for performing an operation for supporting a business decision on the basis of a predetermined knowledge base.
Industrial knowledge serving as targets of a knowledge base system according to the present invention correspond to knowledge related to various designs such as a machine design, estimation, cost estimation, placement/receipt of order, expediting, delivery of commodities, demand, schedule management, arrangement problems, transportation routes, and various layouts.
More specifically, for example, a knowledge base is constituted by knowledge "spring deflection can be calculated by dividing a load by a spring constant,"knowledge "spring constants classified by predetermined spring types," and the like. A load change in each operation (design), in response to an input of a load, the computer is output a spring type for maximizing the spring deflection by executing the knowledge base. In this manner, the present invention relates to the following knowledge base. That is, a person having industrial knowledge builds the knowledge base by herself/himself, and even a person who does not have the industrial knowledge executes the knowledge base to be able to make decision like the person who has the industrial knowledge.
The present invention relates, in particularly, to a knowledge engineering tool with respect to a point that the present invention supports an operation executed by a designer herself/himself who develops a knowledge base system related to the knowledge of the designer who designs products.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, In order to build a business knowledge base and to design an automated system by using a computer, a program must be formed on the basis of industrial knowledge. In general, the following procedure is used. That is, a person having industrial knowledge forms a large number of documents on the basis of the industrial knowledge, and a program developer forms a program.
However, in this related art, a person having the industrial knowledge can rarely form the program by herself/himself. For this reason, long time and an enormous amount of cost are required to form a program for building the knowledge base. In addition, in order to change the program, which is temporarily formed, an enormous amount of effort and long time are disadvantageously required to form the same documents and to change the program.
Furthermore, in order to build a knowledge base, a programmer must learn the special knowledge. With respect to this point, an enormous amount of effort and long time are disadvantageously required.
In addition, knowledge which must be systemized is often complicatedly related to a plurality of items, and if description sequence of programs in a general procedural program language is erroneous, a correct result cannot be obtained. For this reason, in order to correctly reflect the sequence of calculations of the plurality of items on programs, considerably complex operations must be disadvantageously performed. In addition, since such programs tend to be degraded in readability, a modification, change, or the like of programs based on industrial knowledge which is temporarily built cannot be easily performed disadvantageously.